Shanghai Roots & Shoots’ Million Tree Project
Shanghai Roots & Shoots’ Million Tree Project, which began in 2007, aims to raise community awareness of the Earth’s precious environment while focusing on steps individuals can take to lessen their negative impact on the natural world.
The project gives individuals and organizations an opportunity to fight global warming by planting oxygen-producing trees in Inner Mongolia, China. It also encompasses true capacity building as the local population is intimately involved with, and benefits from, every step of planting, maintaining and monitoring the trees.
The Million Tree Project is designed to improve both ecological and humanitarian conditions of Kulun Qi, Tongliao municipality, lnner Mongolia. This project site was chosen because the area suffers severely from desertification and its consequential sandstorms. These sandstorms strike Inner Mongolia and its surrounding areas each spring, destroying local homes and forcing many people to flee their native land.
Our Goal
Shanghai Roots & Shoots aims to plant one million trees in the Inner Mongolian desert by 2014. We have a long-term Memorandum of Understanding in place with the Forestry Bureau of Kunlun Qi to reach this goal, and have secured land for one million trees (planting an average of 1500 trees per hectare). As of April 2010, we have planted 400,000 trees.
Why We Plant on Desertified Land
Our planting site, the Kulun desert, was previously lush grassland. A combination of the greenhouse effect and exploitation of the land such as overgrazing and over-farming have degraded the land, and the now desertified area is expanding at an astonishing rate. The Million Tree Project will reforest the area in order to revitalize the land and block the sandstorms caused by desertification.
Local Involvement
Local farmers and tree planters help plant, monitor, and maintain the trees. Roots & Shoots also works with the Youth league of Kulun Qi to engage local students, encouraging them to get involved by measuring the growth of the trees, assessing the ecological impact of the trees, and helping create a database for long-term project development. Roots & Shoots will also set up an environmental education program to raise local community awareness of conservation and sustainability.
Technical Expertise
Shanghai Roots & Shoots cooperates with the Director, Nursery Technology Cooperative/Director, and Vegetation Management Research Cooperative of the College of Forestry of Oregon State University, USA. Together, we assess the technical aspects of tree planting: the soil evaluation, the viability of the saplings, the watering regimens used and the volunteer community support. Environmental Resources Management (ERM), a global environmental consulting firm, contributes expertise and validates our project as an effective way to reduce and sequester greenhouse gases.
Government Sponsors
The Million Tree Project is possible thanks to collaboration with the China Environmental Protection Agency, Shanghai NGO Administration Bureau, Shanghai Committee on Ethical and Cultural Progress, and the Environmental Protection Bureau of Inner Mongolia.
Tree Planting Retreats
Shanghai Roots & Shoots staff and volunteers travel to Inner Mongolia to plant trees with local farmers. The trips are scheduled in April to coincide with the best planting season. Students must be at least 16 years old to join us on tree planting retreats.
Maintaining and Monitoring the Trees
Local farmers and tree planters take care of the trees growing on their personal plots of land, as allocated by the local government. The farmers are licensed to harvest the trees that have reached maturity, but only on the condition that they replant on the same plot.
Types of Trees Planted
We mostly plant hybrid poplars (Populus simonii), which are particularly effective at sequestering carbon and don’t require much water. Experts from the Forestry Bureau of Kulun Qi and from Oregon State University in the United States deemed this species, which is native to Inner Mongolia, suitable for the local soil and climate. In 2009 we also planted several plots of yellowhorn (Xanthoceras sorbifolia). Yellowhorn seeds contain twice the amount of oil as soybeans, and the oil can be used for both cooking and industrial purposes. This species has a long history of successful growth in the region and will bring both economic and ecological benefits.
Every Tree Makes a Difference
Each tree planted in Inner Mongolia through The Million Tree Project clears the air of 250 kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO2) over the course of its life. This calculation is based on research Program and was adjusted specifically for the Million Tree Project.
How to Purchase a Tree
Each tree costs RMB 25. If you would like to purchase trees, please contact Roots & Shoots at info@mtpchina.org
Getting Involved Personally
- Make a commitment to notice your habits and change your lifestyle accordingly.
- Remind yourself that every thing you do is a choice.
- Consciously choose to reduce your energy/resource consumption by recycling, eating more local foods, and turning off your lights when you leave the room.
These are simple changes that will make a difference by reducing humans’ negative impact on our planet.
- Determine your yearly carbon footprint and reduce it-better yet, completely offset it!-by buying trees for The Million Tree Project.
- Tell people about Shanghai Roots & Shoots’ Million Tree Project
Getting Involved Professionally
- Reduce your office’s energy consumption. Get a free Shanghai Roots & Shoots Eco-Office Audit (www.eco-audit.org), in which a team of technically trained students will come in and calculate your office’s carbon footprint.
- Choose to be environmentally responsible by buying the tree for The Million Tree Project to your office’s emissions.
- Set up a mandatory program to offset pollution from company travel. Corporate air travel emits huge amounts of carbon dioxide and therefore contributes considerably to global warning. See our Carbon Calculator to determine how many trees are needed to voluntarily offset the emissions.
- Buy corporate forests;2,000 trees make a healthy-sized forest. This sends employees and clients a strong message:” this is a company that cares about its environmental impact.” With GPS technology, you will be able to view the exact location of your company’s forest!
The Gift That Keeps Giving
- Planting a tree in someone’s honor is a unique, thoughtful, and environmentally friendly gift for any festive occasion.
- Buy trees for The Million Tree Project as personal gifts for friends and family, or as corporate gifts for clients and staff.
www.mtpchina.org
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